Because lately it feels like if you want a child, you need to sacrifice the square footage where it would learn to walk. That’s the first problem that comes to mind – price – when I look at a 25-year loan tenure and long BTO queues. But price may be adjacent to a wider range of factors, such as:
- Space (or rather, the lack thereof)
- Time to household formation
- Normalisation of dual income
- Policy-induced anxiety in some folks
Let’s start with space, and the gradual shrinking of flat sizes. Back in the 1970s and ’80s, 5-room flats could go up to 1,300+ sq ft. We also had executive apartments. Maisonettes. Balcony spaces big enough to launch the next Mars rocket. Some of these layouts were experimental enough to be weird, sure, but at least they gave you room to be weird.
Today, a “spacious” four-room BTO might clock in at 950 sq ft, and that includes things like the household…
